"We always rely on Fujitsu hardware because high levels of quality and durability are important to us. With the new ESPRIMO X PCs with Windows 8 and the modern solutions provided by ekom21, we will be able to carry out office procedures much more quickly and easily"

The customer

The German federal state of Hesse is split into three administrative regions. The northern-most and largest of these in terms of area is Kassel, covering the area from Hesse’s northern border to the city of Fulda. The authority responsible for this area is the Regierungspräsidium Kassel, which acts as an intermediary between Hesse’s state government in Wiesbaden and the northern and eastern regions of Hesse. It provides a link between the state ministries as well as the administrative districts, cities and communities. The Regierungspräsidium Kassel is responsible for implementing state policies in the region, as well as providing control and advisory functions for the subsidiary authorities in its area.

The challenge

Public administrations and authorities are under high cost pressures, just like companies in the private sector. It was because of this that the Regierungspräsidium Kassel was looking for a solution to save time for both its employees and local residents. It also wanted to improve collaboration in terms of covering holiday and sickness and to make processes more visible.

The solution

As one of Fujitsu‘s strategic partners, ekom21 develops software especially for communities and public authorities. The Regierungspräsidium Kassel relies on this partnership and chose to introduce the civento21.fm solution. The letters ‘fm’ in the solution‘s title stand for community Fallmanagement [case management]. It allows community employees to process documents electronically and efficiently. The authority is also using owi21 for the electronic management of administrative offences. For its hardware base, Department 24 of the Regierungspräsidium Kassel chose the ESPRIMO X913-T from Fujitsu. These have an adjustable 23-inch display with touch functionality.

Products and Services

Clients: 180 x ESPRIMO X913-T

Servers: 4 x PRIMERGY RX300 S6

Storage systems: 2 x NetApp FAS3140

Software: civento21.fm and owi21 from ekom21

Operating system: Microsoft Windows 8 Professional

The benefit

Enormous added value as the ekom21 solutions make all correspondence available digitally, meaning processes can be carried out without media interruption

Multiple advisors can work in parallel on the same process

Intuitive operation including touch functionality

Lower IT costs due to more economical hardware that requires less maintenance

The Regierungspräsidium Kassel is gradually introducing this new community case management system into its different departments. It began with the Zentrale Bußgeldstelle [Central Fines Office, ZBS], whose 180 employees can now collaborate faster and more efficiently. Detlef Erdmann, Head of Information Technology for the ZBS, sees the simplification of communication as one of the main benefits of this solution, which has also saved time and money when it comes to business travel: “As a ZBS employee, I‘m constantly out and about in Hesse,“ Erdmann says. “Until now I‘ve had to book hire cars or train tickets over the phone or in person via the relevant offices. By using civento21.fm, everything is sent electronically in a single process and notifies me about a reserved car or my booked train ticket. It even updates my Outlook calendar automatically.“

civento21.fm also shows its strengths when it comes to hand-overs when employees take leave. As all processes are carried out electronically via the ekom21 solution, every authorized employee can access their colleagues‘ processes from their own computer with a mouse click or by just a tap on the Windows 8 app. They no longer need to move paper documents around the building.

“This is especially practical if a colleague is absent due to illness, meaning no hand-over can take place,“ says Erdmann. The manager can now authorize someone to cover their processes in the blink of an eye.“ And thanks to the excellent overview on the civento21 interface, the colleague knows immediately what is already under way and what tasks still remain. “The manager always has the same level of information as the employee and can access it if needed,“ explains the Head of IT. “By managing documents electronically, these processes are made noticeably faster and simpler.“

For its core competencies, the ZBS in Kassel operates its own data center, which consists of four PRIMERGY RX300 S6 servers and two NetApp FAS3140 storage systems with a total storage capacity of 15 terabytes. This infrastructure is needed to manage the 1.33 million notices that were received by the ZBS in 2012. The authority was able to use the system to bring in 67.68 million euro to the Hesse state budget. owi21 also provides a special solution that displays speed analyses from the police and accelerates data exchange between different authorities.

The main attraction of the ekom21 solutions has to be the fair pricing system. “The basic price is calculated according to the amount of residents in each community,“ explains Detlef Erdmann. “When you consider that new modules are constantly being added, I get an ever-increasing benefit for the same price.“ This means that the communities can plan their costs. They do not have to set aside money for new modules as these are included in the fixed price.

Conclusion

It was so pleased with the ekom21 solutions and how they combined with Fujitsu hardware, Regierungspräsidium Kassel is planning a further roll-out to its other departments, meaning that all 1,200 employees will benefit from increased efficiency. This in turn will benefit the area‘s 1.22 million residents, who will be able to keep track of the administration processes more easily. Detlef Erdmann has nothing but praise for this, and is already planning his next steps towards simplifying operations:

“It was very beneficial for us as a customer that ekom21 and Fujitsu worked together from the start. It means we can be sure that the systems are well-suited to work with each other. Thanks to the ESPRIMO X PCs with Windows 8 and touch displays, we can use ekom21‘s Windows 8 apps much better than we could on traditional PCs. The future of administration starts here.“